Saige

School today. No one knows that I ride horses, so I can't exactly brag about it. Only one kid who I've known all my life knows that I ride horses. He's the only thing that's at all close to a friend. 

I close my locker door, and oh look there's Jayce standing there staring at me. 

"What do you want?" I say.

"Saige, all my life I've known you, and you never tell me how good you do at competitions." He says.

"'Cause you don't wanna hear it." I start to walk down the hallway towards my next class, but he grabs my arm. 

"You are fabulous apparently. But, you never told me." He stares directly into my soul. "How'd you do?"

"I tied for first." 

"See, that's awesome." 

I continue to walk down the hallway, with Jayce right behind me talking to me. 

"I think you're too busy for fun." He says.

"What?" I turn around and look at him. "I am not too busy for fun. Horse riding is my fun."

"Mhm. Right. Right. Have you ever actually experienced a fun time? Like a party, you running around the neighborhood in the rain?" 

I go silent. I guess I haven't. I get to my class, and he stands in the doorway blocking my path.

"You're too busy with riding, and school. You need to loosen up a bit, take some time off."

"I can't take time off now, I'm going into the nationals." I say trying to shove past him. 

He laughs a little. "That's just it. You're too busy with working to get at something, then when you finally do it then you're too busy working at staying in it that you can't have any fun and enjoy your childhood." 

"Yeah. So?"

"Saige, I want to see you win nationals, I really do. But, if you're too busy with horse riding and school to where you don't have an actual life then maybe you should drop riding."

"That's just the same as me telling you not to breathe."

He sighs, and moves out of the way so I can get to class. All through class I can't focus because I'm too set on thinking about what Jayce said. Maybe I am too busy to have a life, and that I need to loosen up. Maybe.